I survived my first two weeks of high school, and I'm back with another chapter! A friendly Guest review has ORDERED me to write more, so here I am. Thank you, Guest.

Here we go!

Chapter Ten

The fire had fizzled out completely, enveloping the cave in darkness, when Duncan shook his friends awake a few hours later.

"I found the Vertical Flame Diversion," he whispered, and the other four followed him over to a chimney above the fire. "It isn't just a chimney, it's a secret passageway."

"Like the tunnel we found under 667 Dark Avenue," said Violet.

"Whoever the boy in the mask is, he has answers," Isadora said.

"How do we know we can trust him?" Klaus asked, voicing what they were all thinking.

"We don't," Sunny said. "But only chance."

With this thought in mind, the five children began to ascend the long narrow passageway. They didn't know how long they climbed for. All they knew was that it seemed to last forever, and when they finished their arms were so sore they felt as if they had been climbing for days. At the top of the Vertical Flame Diversion was a horizontal passage. The masked scout awaited them at the end of it.

"I was wondering when you would show up," he said. "I was about to climb back down and find you myself."

"That wouldn't have been an easy climb down," said Duncan. "With all the spiders hiding in the rocks." The emphasis on the word 'spiders' was subtle, but the scout heard it and shuddered. It happened so quickly that if one of the children had chosen that moment to blink, they would have missed it, an expression which here means: "happened very quickly". But you presumably know the meaning of that phrase already, and I have gone off topic long enough. Let us return to the scene I, as the writer, was writing, and you, as the reader, were reading.

"You said you could help us find what we're looking for," Klaus said. "How do you know what that is?"

If the boy hadn't been wearing a fencing mask, Klaus would have seen that he was smiling, ever so slightly. "I know all of you have lost people. People you care about. Relatives." The Baudelaires thought of their Aunt Josephine and their Uncle Monty, with the sudden realization that they hadn't thought about these people in a long time. The Quagmires thought of their previous guardian's late wife, with the same sudden realization. "Parents." Both sets of orphans thought about their respective parents, and wondered if any of them would turn out to be alive, after all. "Siblings." The Baudelaires turned to their friends, knowing they were thinking about their brother. "I can help you find answers. Everything you need to know is waiting outside this door." The scout gestured to the locked door behind him. Attached was a typewriter. Wires snaked all over the door, connecting the typewriter to a small screen. "It's called a-"

"Vernacularly Fastened Door." Isadora said. The scout looked at her in surprise, or more accurately, turned his head in her general direction. "You have to answer three questions to open it."

"Get a question wrong, and it locks forever." Duncan added.

"We read about it in An Incomplete History of Secret Organizations," Isadora explained. The scout nodded, then pulled a purple notebook out of his pocket. Duncan stepped backwards onto Violet's foot.

"I wrote down the questions in my commonplace book," said the masked scout, paying no attention to Duncan's surprise. "The first phrase is the scientist most heavily credited with the discovery of gravity."

"That's easy. Sir Isaac Newton." Violet typed the first phrase into the lock.

"The second phrase is the name for the lions that used to inhabit caves in the Mortmain Mountains. I know that one, it's-"

"Volunteer Feline Detectives," Duncan said as he typed the second phrase into the lock.

"That's correct," the masked scout said, sounding a little annoyed at being interrupted a second time. "The third phrase is the central theme of the novel Anna Karenina, but I've never read that."

"I have," said Isadora, "but I don't know the theme."

"I do," Klaus said. Very quickly, he typed in the third phrase. At the last word, which was T-R-A-G-E-D-Y, the mechanism whirred, clicked, and made all sorts of unlocking noises. It stuck for just a moment before it unlocked fully.

"Welcome," the masked scout said, "to V.F.D. Headquarters."

The five orphans held their breath as the scout pushed open the high-security mechanism. The only trouble was, nothing lay beyond the door.

"It's all gone," the masked scout said. The children had crossed the threshold and found themselves in the ruins of a fire. The only things left of the secret organization were various piles of scorched wood, twisted metal, and a tall arch that had once been the entrance to a library, bearing the message: The World is Quiet Here.

"If there was a survivor here, they're gone now," Duncan said hollowly as the scout walked ahead.

"So this is where everything leads us? A pile of ash and more unanswered questions?" Violet looked to the masked boy, but he wasn't listening. He was mumbling to himself.

"I don't understand. He said they would be here."

"You said you had answers," demanded Isadora. The scout looked back at his companions.

"I thought I did," he said. "Jacques Snicket said I would find answers. He said they would be here."

"Said who would be here?" Duncan asked.

"We thought we would find a survivor of a fire," Klaus told the masked scout. "We were wrong too." This caught the scout's attention.

"You weren't wrong." The boy reached behind his head and began to unite his mask. "I came here looking for my siblings." He let the mask fall to the ground. Hidden beneath it was a very familiar face. The face was familiar to the Baudelaires because they knew someone with an identical face. Though this boy had longer hair, a slightly thinner figure, and a less haunted look in his eyes, there was no mistaking his identity.

The Quagmire triplets, of course, knew at once who this person was. They had, after all, known him for the majority of their young lives. But it seemed impossible that this person could be standing in front of them. Back in the mountain passageway, Duncan had guessed who this person was, and affirmed his guess with a comment about spiders. When Isadora had first seen the boy's purple notebook, her heart had leapt with hope, but she convinced herself it wasn't true.

You must understand, dear readers, that the Quagmire triplets had been convinced that this person was long gone. So even though they had guessed the identity of the masked scout long before he removed his mask, they still couldn't believe who he was, until he spoke 12 reassuring words.

"I'm Quigley Quagmire, and I survived the fire that killed my parents."

Sorry for the rambling, everyone! I'm sure you were all mentally yelling at me. "The suspense has been increased enough!" I know, I just couldn't help it.

I've gotta go to bed now. Please review!